


I'm caught up in your smile

by nessnessquik



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: A happier version of philinda with the team, And he's a total sap, F/M, Fluff, I hope you find this as entertaining as I did!, May is Daisy's mom, Phil Coulson is literally heart eyes when it comes to Melinda May, Teacher!Coulson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-12
Updated: 2016-03-12
Packaged: 2018-05-26 05:10:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6225283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nessnessquik/pseuds/nessnessquik
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alternatively titled "The Chap-parents." (No one else finds that funny?? Okay, fine)</p><p>A fluffy Philinda AU where they are the chaperones of the whole team on a school field trip. </p><p>Focuses mainly on Philinda, with a lot of silly references to canon team dynamics. Title is from Lady Antebellum's "Just a Kiss."</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'm caught up in your smile

“Each team will have two adults chaperoning. Here's the list of who is in each team. Find your kids and partner chaperone and meet at the buses in five minutes.”

Melinda tried to see the list over the other chaperones, cursing her lack of height as she went on her tip toes. Even with her heels on, most of the adults were taller than her.

“Melinda May?”

Melinda turned quickly, seeing man in a dark suit looking at her and smiling.

“I'm Phil Coulson, your partner.” He held out his hand for her to take. “I mean, your partner for the day. As a chaperone, for the kids.”

“I got it.” Despite her annoyance, Melinda’s lips turned up a bit at his slightly awkward greeting. She took his hand, noticing the rough calluses on them as they shook. She liked a guy that worked with his hands, and he clearly did. “Have we met before?” He seemed familiar. Melinda searched his eyes and was momentarily distracted with trying to figure out what color they were. Were they blue or grey? Or maybe green? They kept shifting colors in the morning light.

“Briefly, once. At the open house we had at the start of the year.” Was that a pink flush on his cheeks? “But Daisy talks about you all the time, so I kind of feel as though I know you. I'm one of her teachers.”

“Oh, of course. I remember. Daisy has mentioned how much she loves your class.” Melinda drew her hand away, trying to shake off the disappointment she felt. It was probably a bad idea to be attracted to her daughter's teacher, right? Right.

“She's a bright girl, and keeps me on my toes. I love having her as a student.” He hadn't stopped smiling. “Shall we go get our kids?”

Melinda raised an eyebrow and Phil cleared his throat nervously.

“That was mostly just a joke, but they are kind of our kids for the day...right? And we're doing a pretty bad job of finding them already so we should go do that.” He turned away quickly.

Melinda suppressed a smile and felt an unfamiliar flutter in her stomach as she followed Phil toward the excited elementary students. She hadn't been exactly thrilled about going to a science center as a chaperone for a bunch of ten year olds, but Daisy had begged her, and she couldn't deny those big brown eyes.

Now, as she followed behind Phil, she wondered if she really knew what she was getting herself into…

* * *

They had named their group the “Agents of SHIELD.”

Well, Phil and Daisy had made the executive decision to name their team after the famous comic book heroes, and after some disagreements ( _“Being 'The Secret Warriors' would be way cooler, guys.” “We can't_ all _have superpowers, Joey. But we can all be agents! I call being the biochemist!”_ ) the others went along with it. It occupied their imaginations on the ride up, at least.

They had asked Melinda if she wanted to be the Director of SHIELD or second-in-command, but she just rolled her eyes, so they'd decided Phil could be the Director.

(Phil didn't mention that the Director and his right hand woman actually end up getting together romantically in the comic series, but it made his smile a little bigger.)

(Melinda didn't mention that she already knew.)

* * *

“Agent Fitz! We have more exhibits to see, please leave the building area and tell Agent Simmons and Agent Morse they can examine more samples under the microscope if we have extra time later. Agent Campbell, you've been playing with the electricity ball for a while, why don't you go check out the earthquake exhibit with Agent Johnson and Commander May? Thank you.”

Phil strode confidently through the exhibits, keeping watch over his kids (students, whatever) carefully. He felt like he and Melinda were doing a great job as partners. They bounced off each other well, and were already getting good at communicating across rooms without words. They hadn't lost a kid yet (although Phil came close with Hunter once, but he blamed that entirely on the way Melinda had been smiling at him during that moment), which was better than his last trip with a new chaperone, and Phil found himself genuinely enjoying her company.

Phil’s gaze found her again now, squatting down by Daisy as they read about earthquakes together. He admired the way her hair fell in soft waves around her face and down her black leather jacket, her proud smile as Daisy read, her eyes as she glanced up and saw him.

Their eyes locked for a moment before her lips curled into a slow, gentle smile. Phil felt his face grow warm and he forced himself to look away.

“Agent Mack! That display says no climbing. Agent Rodriguez, use your walking feet, please.” Phil moved on, trying to put Melinda's warm brown eyes out of his mind so he could focus on the job at hand.

* * *

They broke for lunch at the center’s cafeteria. Nick Fury and Maria Hill’s team joined up with theirs, and they decided to watch all the kids together while Melinda and Phil went to grab the food.

“I noticed you spent a little extra time around the airplane exhibit when we were there earlier.” Phil started, glancing at Melinda as they took their place in line. “Interested in flying?”

Melinda's eyebrow raised a fraction as he revealed how closely he'd been watching her, but she answered anyway. “My father was a pilot, so it's always been fascinating to me.”

“Did you want to be a pilot as well?”

“Sometimes.”

Phil was trying to figure out how to ask more about her without being pushy, when Melinda glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and loosed a small smile. Almost as if she sensed his curiosity.

“But then I discovered how much I enjoyed martial arts.” She finished. 

Phil's expression was a mix of surprise and awe. But then, he shouldn't have been too shocked; Daisy always mentioned how strong her mother was. He’d thought she was always exaggerating when she said Melinda could beat anyone up if she wanted to.

“So you like punching people?” Phil couldn't resist teasing her, he hoped to see her eyes light up with amusement the way they had a couple times that day.

He wasn't disappointed. Melinda’s gaze met his as she lifted a shoulder and smiled mischievously. “We all have our talents.”

They grinned at each other and fell into a relaxed conversation as the food line crawled forward.

As they neared the front, Phil felt himself grow a little bolder. “I've gotta say, I've been on plenty of field trips before, but this one has proven to be the most fun.” His tone was light.

“You only like it because you've got everyone calling you ‘Director.’” Melinda smirked back and leaned against the railing.

Phil shrugged. “It _is_ a pretty nice perk.”

He felt a thrill as Melinda let out a soft laugh and couldn't help but stare at her bright smile. _Wow_.

They moved one more place in line before Melinda spoke again. “You keep doing that.” She commented.

“Doing what?”

“Staring at me.” She looked straight forward, her face unreadable.

Phil swallowed and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. “Do I?”

“Mhmm.” She didn't sound irritated, more curious. And slightly amused.

Phil took a breath and decided to take the plunge. “I guess I just don't find the exhibits to be as captivating as you.”

Phil grinned with relief when Melinda chuckled and decided to take it one step further. “Especially when you smile like that.”

Melinda finally looked back at him in humorous exasperation, still smiling, eyes dancing, and Phil breathed quietly. “Yeah, just like that.”

 _Why don't you just fall to her feet and kiss the ground she walks on?_ Phil thought to himself sarcastically. She probably thought he was beyond desperate. But thankfully he was spared any more embarrassment when they were presented with their trays of food and made their way back to their team.

* * *

“Jemma!” Daisy whispered excitedly to her best friend. “Look! Our mission’s a go!” Daisy pointed to her mom and Mr—or actually, Director Coulson smiling at each other in the food line.

Jemma clapped her hands together, breaking off her conversation with Fitz about science-y stuff to see what Daisy was talking about. “You were right, they're so sweet together! Do you think he's asking her out on a date?”

“I hope so. It was hard to get her to come on this trip, I don't know if she'd do it again.” Daisy—as well as the rest of her class—loved Mr. Coulson. He would tell them fun stories and let them pretend to be agents (they got to call him “A.C.” when other teachers weren't around!) and was the coolest guy Daisy knew. Daisy also knew that her mom was the coolest, awesomest woman in the world, but she spent so much time working and taking care of Daisy that she never got a chance to go out and have fun. So Daisy begged her to come on this field trip, hoping that when she and Mr. Coulson met, they would like each other. Daisy was happy to be right.

She was even happier that she hadn't gotten caught changing the list of chaperones to make sure they ended up together.

* * *

There was only one more stop after lunch, and that was the space exhibit.

The science center was showing a film in their special space dome about stars and planets that all their “agents” wanted to see, so Phil and Melinda took their team for a quick bathroom break before it began.

All the girls had finished and were waiting outside with Phil except for Melinda and Daisy, the latter of whom was washing her hands.

“Mommy?”

“Hmm?” Melinda checked her phone to make sure they were still on time.

“Do you like Mr. Coulson?”

Melinda tried not to show her surprise, and put her phone in her back pocket slowly. “He's a very nice man. Rinse your hands.”

Daisy nodded sagely as she rubbed the last bit of soap off her hands. “I knew it.”

Melinda's eyes narrowed. She could tell her precious, innocent looking daughter was up to something. Unfortunately, Melinda knew that mischievous streak definitely came from her genes, and Melinda’s own mother never failed to remind her of that fact. 

“Daisy.” Melinda spoke her name in warning.

“He has a crush on you, you know.”

“Daisy!” Melinda glanced at the bathroom door, hoping the others couldn't hear. “It isn't good to spread rumors like that. How would you know what Mr. Coulson thinks?”

Daisy dried her hands and shrugged. “I'm ten, Mom. I know things.”

Melinda bit back a smile and shook her head. “I don't know what to do with you sometimes.” She said with a fond weariness.

Daisy threw her paper towel away and stood next to the door as she spoke, as seriously as a ten year old could. “You should give him a chance, Mom. I spend almost everyday with him, take it from me, he's awesome!”

“A chance? Daisy, he hasn't even—”

Daisy opened the door with a sweet smile, effectively getting Melinda to stop talking.

“Come on, Mom! Don't be a slow poke. We're gonna be late!”

Melinda sent her the famous “we are _so_ talking about this later” look and followed her daughter out of the bathroom.

* * *

The kids were sitting in the middle of the floor in the dome shaped room, chatting in excitement about the movie. There was the large, main screen mounted on the wall to watch the film on, but there would also be special effects during it. The projectors would illuminate the whole room with tiny glowing lights and images of galaxies, making it feel like you're actually there in space with the stars. The kids were practically vibrating with the anticipation of “being in space.”

Daisy glanced back and shooed Melinda and Phil to the back corner where the adults were “supposed” to be. Melinda rolled her eyes at her antics, but followed Phil to the edge of the circle and sat down next to him on the floor, snickering quietly at his groans and the way his knee cracked when he got down.

“Do I need to have an ambulance on call for you?” Melinda teased, trying to swallow down her laughter when Phil sent her a mock glare and told her to shut up.

She was about to joke again when the movie began.

Melinda smiled at the children's gasp when the room went dark. She'd grown fond of their little team, even in the short time they spent together. She no longer minded (well, not as much) Fitzsimmons’ constant stream of chatter or Joey’s endless questions. She enjoyed Bobbi’s quiet company and watching her delight in learning something new. Elena and Lincoln were sweet, and Hunter, well, he still got on her nerves, but between Mack and Trip—and when even they couldn't help, Bobbi—they were able to keep him in line. And of course she loved getting to spend more time with her little girl, even if Daisy had apparently been scheming behind her back. She decided chaperoning wouldn't be too bad if she got this crew every time.

But Melinda would be lying to herself if she didn't admit that the man sitting next to her had a lot to do with her enjoyment of the trip. She didn't usually warm up to people this easily, and she'd laughed more today than she had in what felt like a long time.

She thought about what Daisy said in the bathroom. It seemed her little ten-year-old was trying to do a bit of matchmaking. But instead of disapproving, Melinda felt a bit pleased that Daisy thought Phil "had a crush on her.” Not that he was being especially subtle with all the staring and compliments.

Melinda grinned to herself as she remembered his sappy, but admittedly cute, line from lunch today, and the sweet way he handled the children—especially Daisy—with so much care and confidence. She found herself admiring him for more than just his strong hands and soft eyes.

“Enjoying yourself over there?” Phil's quiet voice interrupted her thoughts.

Melinda realized she had been smiling at virtually nothing while the movie was playing. The narrator was reciting the names of some of the biggest stars and the lights around the room would spin as it pinpointed the star’s location. Their students “ooh’d” and “ahh’d” at the show.

Melinda turned her head, breath hitching slightly when she noticed how close Phil's face was to hers.

“It's a gorgeous display.” Melinda commented softly.

“Yeah, it is.” Phil replied, and the way his eyes lingered on hers told Melinda he wasn't referring to the tiny bright “stars” surrounding them.

Melinda snorted quietly, unable to keep herself from smiling. “Are you always this cheesy?”

“Um, what? No, no, I don't—” Phil saw the faint features of a raised eyebrow and turned his gaze forward, embarrassment making his neck go hot. “Yeah, pretty much. Sorry.”

Melinda found his fingers resting on the floor next to her and brushed her own against them. “I didn't say it was necessarily a bad thing.”

Melinda heard Phil’s deep intake of breath and he turned back to face her, their faces were only inches apart.

 _Blue_ , Melinda decided. She was pretty sure his eyes were blue—with a fascinating splash of gold flecks surrounding his pupils. But she wouldn't mind staring into them a bit longer...just to make sure she was right.

“Melinda,” Phil started. It was the first time she'd heard him say her name, and it sounded wonderful coming from his lips. His very inviting, very _close_ lips. “This might be a little backward considering we already have ten children, but,” His joking half smile vanished and his expression became hesitant. “Is it too cheesy, or even inappropriate, for me to ask if I could take you out to dinner sometime?”

Melinda May was rarely impulsive. She was known for being controlled and thoughtful in her decisions, especially since she had Daisy. But he looked so earnest and hopeful and so endearing, that there, in a dark room with hundreds of twinkling lights and their kids only a few feet away, she gave in and tilted her head that extra inch to press her lips to his.

The kiss was chaste, but sweet. Melinda pulled back after two heartbeats.

“That answer your question, Director?”

Phil blinked once, trying to recover from the shock of her kiss before grinning widely and answering. “As my trusted right hand, you can call me Phil when the team's not around.”

Melinda chuckled and was telling herself she definitely should _not_ kiss Phil again when the movie ended and they were forced to put space in between themselves.

When the lights came back on, Phil and Melinda stood up in unison, all business once again (although Melinda had to stop herself from smiling when Phil's knee cracked again). Melinda was pretty sure no one had noticed them in the dark, although Daisy was staring pretty hard at them right now.

“Alright agents, line up at the door. I've received our next mission and it's to get back to our buses in T-minus five minutes. Are we up for the challenge?”

“Yes, sir!” Was the chorus that answered him.

“That's what I thought. Let's move, team!”

* * *

“All of our chaperones did a great job. Everything went mostly without any issues—except one boy in John’s group, Grant Ward, broke out in hives halfway through the trip. But other than that, nice job everyone! The children are ready to be picked up by their parents, so you are free to go. We hope to see you volunteer again in the future.”

The room immediately became noisy as the chaperones began speaking and moving around. Phil looked at Melinda sitting next to him with a slightly nervous smile, unable to forget how gentle her touch had been on his fingers, and how soft her lips felt against his.

“So, I guess—”

“Phone.” Melinda held her hand out expectantly.

“...Oh.” Phil grabbed his phone and unlocked it quickly before giving it to her.

Melinda entered in her phone number and handed it back. “It might be kind of backwards considering we had ten kids,” She quoted, and a smile broke out on Phil's face. “But I thought you might want to be able to tell me where and when dinner will be.” Melinda smirked and stood. “I'll talk to you later, Phil.”

“Yes, ma'am, Commander May.”

* * *

His last glimpse of Melinda before she left was of her and Daisy walking hand in hand toward the parking lot. Daisy glanced back, saw him, and started waving madly until she got Melinda to turn around as well.

Phil grinned and returned the wave. He really loved that kid.

But he found his gaze wandering back to Melinda. She was smiling that bright smile again.

Daisy looked up at her mom and said something. Melinda immediately shook her head and turned them back around.

Phil watched as Daisy gave a large fist pump in the air.

**Author's Note:**

> This started as a drabble and turned into this craziness. I just found the idea so entertaining that I had to write it out--centered around philinda, of course.  
> I really hope you enjoyed it and that it wasn't too lame! Haha! A comment would be lovely if you could spare some time. =) 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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